I'm surprised at all the hate this is getting.

Maybe I just had moderate expectations. I absolutely love this era - The Gold Experience has always been one of my favourites... and yet I never really listened to the Versace Experience - because I guess I never felt I needed to, having all the tracks on their respective albums and singles...

So I picked up the vinyl of this along with Emancipation and Chaos And Disorder.

I don't know if it's been confirmed that the source was a cassette tape - maybe I missed that - but the vinyl sounds pretty damn good pumping out of my main stereo setup where I blasted it yesterday while everyone else was out.

Yeah, it's probably not quite up there sonically with the Emancipation and Chaos And Disorder vinyl pressings... but I heard absolutely nothing to complain about. And I thought that - although it's basically an EP and should have been priced as such - charging £31 for was outrageous even if it had been a full length LP, let alone a remix EP - I really enjoyed it. It's a decent sampler and mix of the era... it's a bit of fun and the music is all good!

So I'm glad I got it, I'll listen to it more for sure... Can't condone pressing things from cassette when better masters are available, that is ridiculous, and the price was a gouger, but have to say in terms of the end result I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's a minor release and there's nothing wrong with it on those terms.

Rimshottbob said:

I'm surprised at all the hate this is getting.

Maybe I just had moderate expectations. I absolutely love this era - The Gold Experience has always been one of my favourites... and yet I never really listened to the Versace Experience - because I guess I never felt I needed to, having all the tracks on their respective albums and singles...

So I picked up the vinyl of this along with Emancipation and Chaos And Disorder.

I don't know if it's been confirmed that the source was a cassette tape - maybe I missed that - but the vinyl sounds pretty damn good pumping out of my main stereo setup where I blasted it yesterday while everyone else was out.

Yeah, it's probably not quite up there sonically with the Emancipation and Chaos And Disorder vinyl pressings... but I heard absolutely nothing to complain about. And I thought that - although it's basically an EP and should have been priced as such - charging £31 for was outrageous even if it had been a full length LP, let alone a remix EP - I really enjoyed it. It's a decent sampler and mix of the era... it's a bit of fun and the music is all good!

So I'm glad I got it, I'll listen to it more for sure... Can't condone pressing things from cassette when better masters are available, that is ridiculous, and the price was a gouger, but have to say in terms of the end result I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's a minor release and there's nothing wrong with it on those terms.

Can anyone confirm that the vinyl sounds better? You can hear the tape hiss on the CD, and comparing the tracks to The Gold Experience CD, I actually don't want to listen The Versace Experience CD ever again.

^Well, the CD and the official streams all have tape hiss. I haven't listened to the vinyl personally, but surely it is from the same source. It would make no sense to release a cassette rip for the CD and streams and yet have the vinyl sourced from something better.

I love the official release of Versace and the beautiful artwork. It's a great item for looks but really does sound pretty bad - most noticeably (to me) on Billy Jack B and Gold. I can only figure they are letting this out on poor quality to maintain the closeness to its original cassette form. Maybe they will cash in on a remaster at some point.

didnt they only released this simply cause they could? meaning they had rights to it...no other reason

jfenster said:

didnt they only released this simply cause they could? meaning they had rights to it...no other reason

.

I'm sure there are lots of reasons why a certain album is released/reissued and why certain others are not. Regarding The Versace Exerpience the fact that it was reissued alongside Emancipation and Chaos & Disorder makes me think that they had wanted to reissue The Gold Experience but perhaps there was some legalities preventing them from doing so. And so this was the closest thing. I've yet to think of a good reason why this would be reissued ahead of the actual The Gold Experience album. There must be more to it. The release of The Versace Experience does seem like some sort of compromise.

It is great, always wanted this on CD, and the fact that they chose something as obscure as this, and Piano & Mic 83, gives me hope that other obscure items will get attention, perhaps some that we are even completely unaware of.

I think I'll be skipping this one.

When I first heard there was a Versace Experienc tape I assumed it had the re-recorded / Versace versions of Kiss and Around the World in a Day. If those were on it, I'd definitely buy it.

The only release I will be buying since Prince's passing is the 1999 box set. Still hoping for unheard albums in the future... I've got tons of Prince & related music to last the rest of my life already...

purplethunder3121 said:

The only release I will be buying since Prince's passing is the 1999 box set. Still hoping for unheard albums in the future... I've got tons of Prince & related music to last the rest of my life already...

You weren't interested in all the unreleased music on Purple Rain Special Edition or Originals?

Im of the belief that the Versace Experience was only released because it was easy. A full "album" in pretty good quality that was all but ready to put on vinyl/CD. Easy money.

Should've been held as a bonus disc for an eventual 'Gold Exp' reissue... that said, hey for 10 bucks it's kind of a cool little relic. I'd never heard it before. Sounds like one of those 'Ahdio Shows' from the NPG Music Club. Although many of those had a few cool unreleased nuggets sprinkled throughout. But some didn't really. So this reminds me of one of the weaker 'ahdio' shows.

.

I pity the hapless recent fan who picks this up thinking it's a proper album...

.

Come to think of it, most of the 'Ahdio Shows' would make much much much better official CD releases than this.

I just got done listening to your podcast.

First . . . "Lisa" is an example of a songname of a bandmember! Granted, it's unreleased.

Second . . . I was originally going to get this, but now I'm not so sure. Most of it is annoyingly chopped up and incomplete!

CAL3 said:

Should've been held as a bonus disc for an eventual 'Gold Exp' reissue... that said, hey for 10 bucks it's kind of a cool little relic. I'd never heard it before. Sounds like one of those 'Ahdio Shows' from the NPG Music Club. Although many of those had a few cool unreleased nuggets sprinkled throughout. But some didn't really. So this reminds me of one of the weaker 'ahdio' shows.

.

I pity the hapless recent fan who picks this up thinking it's a proper album...

.

Come to think of it, most of the 'Ahdio Shows' would make much much much better official CD releases than this.

Agreed. I was bored senseless listening to it. No great shakes.

It's kind of just a remix tape for an era where we already have a lot of remixes. I still have some audio shows I spin from time to time.

darkroman said:

An underwhelming release. I played it once...I've already heard/bought the Gold Album and Exodus and NPG albums. So...no need to play it again.

I already plopped my money down on 1999 Deluxe. Just waitin' for that...

If the Estate really wants to get me to spend more money, put out Madhouse 24! That'll get my attention!! Or Parade Deluxe...or Sign O' the Times Deluxe!

williamb610 said:

An underwhelming release. I played it once...I've already heard/bought the Gold Album and Exodus and NPG albums. So...no need to play it again.

I already plopped my money down on 1999 Deluxe. Just waitin' for that...

If the Estate really wants to get me to spend more money, put out Madhouse 24! That'll get my attention!! Or Parade Deluxe...or Sign O' the Times Deluxe!

Very happy with the Gold album I already have.

Yesterday, I listened to a bootleg of the "The Versace Experience". The sound quality is pretty good. For a bootleg. I understand the official release is not much better.

.

Anyway, that was probably the second time (maybe third time) in my life I listened to that sampler/"album". It's... interesting, but I won't buy the official release. I don't want to encourage that kind of releases. If they can't release The Gold Experience, then don't release anything. Don't release a sampler tape that only made sense in the context of a fashion event 24 years ago. That's the kind of things that should be released as the 14th bonus disc of a box set or as an online only release.

.

The Peach and Black episode about it was fun, on the other hand. As always.

purplethunder3121 said:

williamb610 said:

An underwhelming release. I played it once...I've already heard/bought the Gold Album and Exodus and NPG albums. So...no need to play it again.

I already plopped my money down on 1999 Deluxe. Just waitin' for that...

If the Estate really wants to get me to spend more money, put out Madhouse 24! That'll get my attention!! Or Parade Deluxe...or Sign O' the Times Deluxe!

Very happy with the Gold album I already have.

even the one without Days of Wild long????

jfenster said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Very happy with the Gold album I already have.

even the one without Days of Wild long????

Have that, too.

Steelclawz said:

So I have the Versace experience song "Around the world in a day", i don't remember where i got it, but why wasn't it included on the CD, and why has no one mentioned it? It was completely re-sung with all new Music and lyrics like "the purple one will escort you..." .. Versace said in the beginning.

that's from the second time he did music for versace. it was years later and had nothing to do
with this release

Picked up the "Purple Gold Archives" boot and the official release.

I play the PGA release more than I play the official release.

Steelclawz said:

So what was the track listing for the second visit?

Around the World in a Day/Lolita/Love/Black Sweat/Kiss/Shhh/Kiss Reprise.

Even as a boot this was a 'straight to file' release, as the remixes are underwhelming and it came to meafter TGE, so what's the use of excerpts after the fact?

Yo have it released on cd, vinyl and digital while using the cassette as source is weird to me, as is the choice of releasing this on those platforms at all; should have stayed a promo.

As I have given up being a completist ages ago, this is not something I will pick up.

I agree with a lot of what's being said. This is good if you didn't have the boot or you wanted a little better sound quality, but it's not on the top of my to buy list. I like the packaging. I'll buy eventually for that.

OK, so I've just listened to it for myself (no, I didn't buy it) and I can't believe that this passed quality control. I've heard bootlegs that were sourced from cassettes that sound better than this.
.

I think the idea of releasing this particular promo tape while marketing it as a full album was a mistake, but all the more now I've heard the sound quality.

A ludicrous release- completely superfluous- aimed at collectors and die hards because quality control is unnecessary when it comes to those wallets. I feel bad for casual fans who are tricked into buying this nonsense.

I assume I am the same as 99% of people here who did not have an original 1995 cassette copy and only had it on bootleg previously. Thus I am grateful to have it so easily available officially since Record Store Day and now the wider release. Nothing more to say.